In many applications, the electric power consumption of an electronic circuit is desired to be minimized when the electronic circuit is not used. Stand-by mechanisms, which enable to decrease the circuit power consumption, are thus provided.
In electronic circuits comprising a microcontroller, the microcontroller generally integrates stand-by functions enabling to set its core to stand-by mode during periods when it is not used. During such stand-by periods, other circuits of the microcontroller monitor the microcontroller inputs-outputs to detect a need to wake the core.